Throughout the late 70s and into the 80s, Russ Cowan, a fourth generation restaurateur, worked across the country building his skills behind the counter and on the road. From Miami to the Mid-west,

Cowan built locations for  Bagel Nosh, a popular quick-service

bakery/deli before working for the well-known Chicago meat producer,

Vienna Beef. In 1989 he settled with his family in southern New Jersey and purchased the first of his solo ventures into the Jewish delicatessen business. Bread and Bagels was the starting point for multiple different operations that followed.

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       In 2005, the Cowans purchased Famous 4th Street, a Philadelphia 

landmark. Over the years with the Cowan family at the helm, Famous

was featured on The Food Network, “The Rachel Ray Show,” and in 

various publications, gaining attention from local and national

celebrities as well as a large crowd of neighborhood regulars.

 

       After 18 years in Philly, Cowan and his family said a bittersweet

goodbye to Famous and returned to South Jersey - curing their own

meat, baking their own desserts and serving the community in their 

own backyard. The return to New Jersey also came with the opportunity to create a full circle moment: re-establishing the Radin’s Delicatessen name 50 years after the last Brooklyn establishment closed. As a fourth generation owner and operator, you can often find Cowan slicing fish behind the counter, cleaning picture frames on the wall, or changing a lightbulb in a case, just as his parents,

grand-parents and great grand-parents alike would have done many years before.